Sign of the (Lap) Times: High Point

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From the first Lites practice at High Point, SoBe No Fear/Samsung Honda’s Josh Grant was poised to win. And in the first moto, Josh could claim that he was the fastest Lites rider in America, laying down the fastest lap time that moto—a 2:02.964. The depth of this class really shows, though, as the next four fastest riders—Jason Lawrence, Ben Townley, Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto—were all within a second of Grant’s fastest lap.

The second moto Grant had the fourth fastest lap time, which was within a second of the fastest moto time recorded by Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ben Townley, who logged a 2:00.962, a full two seconds faster than Grant’s first-moto fast lap. BT101 redeemed his stop-in-the-pits-and-go-still-get 10th in moto one with a very decisive win in the second moto. Again, both Dungey and Villopoto were in the top four, and it’s surprising that Jason Lawrence only had the seventh fastest time of the moto (and finished sixth). Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill had some quick laps, setting the fifth fastest time.

AMA MX Class

There was some uncertainty of whether this year’s race could live up to the first moto battle that we saw in the MX class here in 2006. But it did, as Makita Suzuki’s Carmichael got up from a fall and hunted down the #7 Monster Energy Kawasaki throughout the first moto, giving every fan in attendance their money’s worth. Finally on lap 12, Carmichael pounced, taking the lead from Stewart, and racing off for the moto win. Carmichael’s fastest lap time was a 1:58.488, almost a full two seconds faster than Stewart’s fastest lap. In fact, RC was the only rider throughout the first motos to eclipse the two-minute mark.

In moto two it was all Carmichael, who pulled the holeshot and led wire-to-wire. But Stewart did manage to get his lap times under the two-minute mark as well. Similar to the Lites class, the lap times were faster for the second set of motos, and RC was able to best his first moto lap time with a 1:57.776. Stewart had a 1:58.392, and Millsaps was third quickest with a 2:02.172, followed by Andrew Short’s 2:02.408.